SpaceX Testing Landing Legs On Next Falcon9 Rocket

astroengine writes with news of SpaceX's next step in experimenting with vertical landings for rocket stages. From the article: "Space Exploration Technologies is installing landing legs on its next Falcon 9 rocket, part of an ongoing quest to develop boosters that fly themselves back to the launch site for reuse. For the upcoming demonstration, scheduled for March 16, the Falcon 9's first stage will splash down, as usual, in the ocean after liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This time, however, SpaceX hopes to cushion the rocket's destructive impact into the Atlantic Ocean by restarting the Falcon 9's engine and extending landing legs that will be attached to the booster's aft section. The goal is a soft touchdown on the water." The test is scheduled for their ISS resupply mission on March 16th 2014 (the mission also features the launch of the crowdfunded KickSat nano nanosatellites) .

Comments

nano nanosatellites?

[Anonymous Coward]

Did Mork write the summary?

Re:SpaceX

[cbhacking]

There will probably be a lot of reconditioning needed anyhow, but yeah, the cost saving could be enormous. The fuel is pretty cheap, really; what makes rocket launches expensive is the need to build an entire new rocket every time. Even the so-called reusable Space Shuttle had a ton (actually, many tons) of parts that were discarded with every launch and had to be built anew for the next one. If SpaceX can actually make the Falcon 9 reusable, it could reduce launch costs by at least an order of magnitude. I think their actual goal is to hit *two* orders of magnitude, and they have a much better ides of costs and feasibility than I do...